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What Does Lana Del Rey’s ‘Radio’ Mean?

‘Radio’ is my favourite song by Lana Del Rey; the melody is one of dreamlike purity and you can lose yourself in a voice that is beautifully ethereal. But what do the lyrics mean?

Not even they can stop me now Boy, I’ll be flying overhead Their heavy words can’t bring me down Boy I’ve been raised from the dead

No one even knows how hard life was I don’t even think about it now because I’ve finally found you Oh, sing it to me

Now my life is sweet like cinnamon Like a fucking dream I’m living in Baby love me cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

Pick me up and take me like a vitamin Baby love me cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

American dreams came true somehow I swore I’d chase ’em until I was dead I heard the streets were paved with gold That’s what my father said ‘Cause my body’s sweet like sugar venom oh yeah

No one even knows what life was like Now I’m in LA and it’s paradise I’ve finally found you Oh, sing it to me

Now my life is sweet like cinnamon Like a fucking dream I’m living in Baby love me cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

Pick me up and take me like a vitamin ‘Cause my body’s sweet like sugar venom oh yeah Baby love me ’cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

Sweet like cinnamon Like a fucking dream I’m living in Baby love me ’cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

Sweet like cinnamon Like a fucking dream I’m living in I’ve finally found you Oh, sing it to me

Now my life is sweet like cinnamon Like a fucking dream I’m living in Baby love me ’cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

Pick me up and take me like a vitamin ‘Cause my body’s sweet like sugar venom oh yeah Baby love me ’cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

Now my life is sweet like cinnamon Like a fucking dream I’m living in Baby love me ’cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

Pick me up and take me like a vitamin ‘Cause my body’s sweet like sugar venom oh yeah Baby love me ’cause I’m playing on the radio (How do you like me now?)

I have heard many interpretations of this song, ranging from a man finally paying the singer attention because she’s on the radio, to one of her finally finding fame, to something more bittersweet in reference to the fact that cinnamon is, in fact, not sweet at all. I however, think this song is an ode to music:

Before she found music, life was hard; no one knows how hard. We know from her controversial interview with GQ Magazine that she was sent to boarding school aged fourteen due to an alcohol problem, so it seems life hasn’t exactly been a bed of roses for her in the past. But now she’s ‘flying overhead’ in LA and ‘it’s paradise’.

But this is a two way thing; just as music has allowed her to live the American Dream, she is doing good things for music as well; she’s ‘playing on the radio’ and music can ‘pick her up and take her like a vitamin’, one of the best lines in the song, meaning that it gets its strength from talent like hers. The music industry is made by those with a passion for it; people like Lana Del Rey, whose livelihood is music. The ‘(How do you like me now)’ is, I think, a kind of ‘fuck you’ to those who doubted her on the way up.

However, this is just my interpretation. What do you think it’s about?